Virgin River on Riverside Walk
12/16/2021: This is a very pleasant walk along the Virgin River. It is definitely more of a walk than a hike, but sometimes it is just nice to walk, if you know what I mean. We did this hike as part of a day-long trip to Zion. The second hike was the Emerald Pools Loop. Together, the two make for a very pleasant day. Especially if you stop at the Zion Canyon Brewpub in Springdale - Recommeded!
Marg’s Notes: Decided to go into Zion our last day. A long drive, but worth it. We drove up to the end of the road and did the River Walk. Very cold! We bundled up. Lots of snow & ice on the ground, so we put on our shoe chain! They were awesome to have! Quite a few people but a pretty hike. 2.2 miles 1.5 hours. After that, we drove down to the Emarald Pools parking lot, but decided to make a loop with The Grotto, Kayenta, & Emarald Pools. Muddy on Kayenta. As we started to climb to the pools it got icy & we finally put our shoe chains on at the last pool. There was a beautiful pool at the top! There was a waterfall & some ice that occasionally crashed down into the pool. Wore our chains the whole way back to the car. Should have put them on sooner! 4.25 miles ~2½ hours. We were hungry so we went to the Zion Brew Pub. Very good! Had 2 beers each! Also had pub fries., chili & salad! Very good. Late lunch again. Back to Mesquite! Packed clothes & food.
Another light dinner.
Rod’s Ramblings from the Trail: We are getting a start about 10:00. The temperature is currently 24° and we have driven all the way to the end of the road on the scenic drive because there is no shuttle service right now.
We definitely needed our boot chains. It was a nice hike, and I would probably give it a four or five rating. A good one to do in the winter time but there were still quite a few people.